On the 20th of June, The House at the Edge of Night came out in the USA and Canada! And a few copies also reached me in Italy, thanks to my publishers Random House and Doubleday:

Here's the cover. I think the designer did a really beautiful job. At the moment it's available in most bookstores in the US, so if you've been waiting to get your hands on a paperback copy, now is your chance!

In other news, this Saturday was the patron saint's festival here in Turin, La Festa di San Giovanni. In The House at the Edge of Night I wrote about how small towns celebrate patron saints' festivals, and in a city of a million people like Turin it's no less of an important day. On Friday night, in the main square, there was a procession of actors in historic costumes followed by a bonfire. On the top of the bonfire there is always a bull, the symbol of Turin. When the bull catches fire it falls either to one side or the other: one way means good luck and the other bad luck for the rest of the year to come. Luckily, this year it fell in the right direction! Then on Saturday night we had the annual San Giovanni firework display. These fireworks are really spectacular, with music, fire and light displays, and this year's display was excellent. About 50,000 people were in Turin's biggest square to watch them, so it's a big event, but in the end it has the same significance as local saints' festivals in smaller places - a chance for the city to come together in the local square and celebrate. I post quite a bit about life in Italy and Turin in particular on my Instagram here, so take a look if you're interested!

This week I was in the Netherlands for the publication of The House at the Edge of Night, or De Lange Dagen van Castellamare! Here are just a few photos of what happened while I was there.

On the first day when I arrived, I did an interview with De Telegraaf, a Dutch national newspaper, and also with hebban.nl, which is similar to GoodReads. Here are Renate and Helma from Hebban, who were both lovely and very passionate about books and reading (they gave me some recommendations for Dutch books too):

That evening, I also met Constance, Anja and Meriam, three brilliant booksellers from around the Netherlands, and the Dutch translator, Lara. It was the first time I had ever met one of the translators who had worked on my book, and it was fascinating and a bit humbling to ask her about her work. Bookselling is different in every country, and compared to the UK there seems to be quite a happy mix of independent and chain shops, more like what we have here in Italy, which was interesting to hear.

On the second day my editor, Hedda, had the idea of taking me on a bike tour around the city. We stopped off at Scheltema, a beautiful bookshop in the centre of the city:

And then went on across the canal to the publishers' offices...

Where I found the Dutch book waiting for me, in its deckchair.

Here are my editor, Hedda, and Jill, the publicist, who were both fantastic people to spend time with and did so much to welcome me to the Netherlands. In fact, I would say that the feeling I left with was one of being warmly welcomed by everybody I met - the Netherlands, although small, has a great community of readers and writers.

Then as soon as I got home to Turin, the UK paperback book came out. To coincide with publication, I wrote an article for the online magazine Bookanista about the Ospedale degli Innocenti, one of Italy's hidden places and a foundling hospital with a noble history of six centuries of care for abandoned children. You can check it out here.

And on the 16th, I presented the Italian book, La Casa sull'Isola, at the first Wine & Reading event at Spazio 19 Coworking, my home from home in Turin and where I wrote most of Book Two. It was a really happy evening with friends and readers, and here are just a couple of photos of the night:

I hope I can find a few more Turinese writers and we can make it a regular event. If you want to check out a few more photos, you can find them here. For now, I hope you have a happy and peaceful week wherever in Europe or the world you are, and thanks to everyone who makes this worldwide community of readers such a good place to work. Until next week (when it will all be boring photos of my desk again, don't worry!).

I am spending the next couple of days with my Dutch publishers in Amsterdam (full report to follow next week!). But meanwhile, I am checking in here to invite you to a very special event which will be taking place on Friday, at my home from home in Turin, Spazio 19 Coworking. More details below...

Lettori e amici Torinesi, questo venerdi' il 16 presentiamo il libro La Casa sull'Isola a Spazio 19 Coworking, alle 18:30. Ci sara' un assaggio di vino da La Bottega Store, e poi qualche letture del libro da Stefano Visconti e discussione col giornalista Marco Panzarella. Gratis! Tutti i dettagli (e inscrizione per l'assaggio di vino e stuzzichini, da non mancare!) qua. Mi farebbe tanto piacere vedervi.

This week, I am very happy to present the paperback covers for the US/Canadian and UK editions of The House at the Edge of Night. Here they are...

The one on the left is the US/Canadian version, and the one on the right the UK. The UK edition will be out on the 15th of June, but is currently available exclusively at WHSmith travel shops if you want to get hold of it before the official publication date. And the US/Canadian editions arrive shortly after, both on the 20th of June. Two very different interpretations, but I think both the cover designers have done an excellent job of turning the story into an image that somehow captures the spirit of the book. Let me know what you think!